


Cameras

by CurryJolokia



Category: Original Work, Tumblr - Fandom
Genre: Inanimate Objects, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-08
Updated: 2012-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 19:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CurryJolokia/pseuds/CurryJolokia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't what they're made to do or meant to do.  It's what they end up doing anyway.</p><p>Inspired by this:<br/>http://kyliekat99.tumblr.com/post/30849267667/lord-kitschener-hurryupmerlin-i-ship-it</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cameras

They’d been together his whole life. She had been there when they installed him, and at first he’d gotten quite the chilly reception from her.

‘You think you can see better because you’re a newer model? You’re taller, sharper? You think you can replace me just like that?’

‘No, actually. I know I can’t.’

‘…Oh?’

‘Yes. I heard them saying they aren’t going to uninstall you because there’s a small fraction of the canvassable area that my lens can’t reach. So they’re keeping you aimed at that 12.5% over there.’

‘Oh. Twelve and a half percent? Is that what I’m worth, now? This is rich. Three solid years of service and they bring in a new guy with an -attitude- thinking he’s some fucking deus ex optica.’

‘No, I didn’t mean that—’

‘You know what? You just stay over there and take care of your eighty-five percent, or whatever it is, and I’ll stay over here and -never look at you again-.’

‘It’s, um, eighty seven and a half.’

‘SHUT UP.’

To be fair, he had never been good at first impressions. They’d nearly sent him back when they opened his box, but he had been purchased on sale, and they decided to make a go of it anyway, see if having double the cameras might help keep the store safer.

He poured himself into his work and tried not to think about her. 

When rainy season came, she spoke to him again.

‘…Just because you’ve never been through this before, you should know it won’t last forever.’

Shivering inside his casing, flinching at every creeping drop that threatened to reach inside and wet his soder, he was so startled by the sound of her voice that he had spun halfway around on his pivot anchor before he remembered himself. He watched a gum spot on the pavement very carefully, trying to see whether the raindrops were rolling off of it or sticking to it.

‘It hasn’t let up for days,’ he said, trying not to sound as scared as he felt. ’It will end?’

‘Not for a while,’ she said, her tone neutral. ’But it will.’

They didn’t say anything more. He took comfort in knowing that even though she didn’t like him, perhaps even resented him, she’d still said something. He still didn’t feel brave enough to look over at her, but he didn’t turn away either. He looked straight ahead, and waited for the rain to stop.

It did, finally, and summer came. Summer, and blistering heat. He didn’t mind it so much, since the shadow of the neighboring shop helped keep him in the shade for most of the day. 

There was a creak, one day, that made him worry.

‘Was that you?’

It took a long time for her to respond.

‘My casing.’

‘It’s…splitting?’

‘I don’t know. Probably. I would have to have a lens in the back of my head to see, now wouldn’t I?’

He didn’t say anything else, sensing that there was nothing she wanted to hear.

Another creak, several days later. She didn’t say anything, but it was an embarrassed sort of silence, a tense one. Finally he had to break it.

‘…I could look and tell you how bad it is,’ he offered. ’So you know if water might get in or not.’

‘Don’t look,’ she snapped, sounding flustered. ’It’s probably ugly and horrible. I’m a lot older than you.’

‘I don’t care,’ he said, trying to be brave. ’I’ll turn and look, and if it’s really bad, I’ll tell you honestly. Without any commentary.’

A customer walks out of the shop below them, startling them both, and she takes a long time to respond after that.

‘Okay. But only for a moment.’

‘I promise,’ he says, and turns as quickly as his servo can manage.

The flare of the sunlight in her lens strikes him dumb, and he clocks the right corner of his casing on the building before he realizes he’s forgotten to stop turning. She’s looking up at him, bracket angled severely back from her mounting plate to let her raise her lens so far above the downcast view she was built to have. He’s not sure if it’s painful for her, but she doesn’t seem to even notice.

Her lens dials nervously, shifting focus. She’s waiting for him to speak first. He feels his nylon gears grinding against each other, and he’s nearly shaking from indecision - pivot away? Never pivot away again?

‘You, ah, I can’t see your casing from, um, from this angle,’ he stammers finally.

‘Sorry,’ she whispers, and he hears a fondness in the word that he never thought he would.

‘You told me you’d never look at me again,’ he says finally, realizing how dumb he sounds as he speaks.

‘My twelve and a half percent isn’t interesting anymore,’ she smiles. ’Mind if we share the view?’

**Author's Note:**

> I DON’T EVEN KNOW OKAY THE PICTURE WAS JUST TOO CUTE credit to curryjolokia if anyone actually cares enough to READ this


End file.
